It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ev'rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five-and-ten, glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Toys in ev'ry store,
But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be
On your own front door.

~ James Pierpont

Chapter 14----

Roses' POV

James had called another family meeting.

Z and Scor had shooed me and Al away saying that they'd find something better to do than "converse with the Weasley/Potter tribe about things that were bound to be mundane" (and I'm quoting here.)

I sigh, assuring myself silently that this meeting won't take too long, I've got loads of stuff I'd rather do: hang out with Scor, hang out with Z, kiss Scor, laugh with Scor, ok you get the picture.

James ushers us inside the Room of Requirement in his obnoxiously pompous way. The Room has changed itself into a Muggle Meeting Area. A long table, dark wood table is in the center of the room, with 12 rolling, comfortable chairs around it. On one wall there is a whiteboard with a large heading in black reading Weasley/Potter Family Meeting in James' almost unreadable scrawl.

We each take our appointed seats, with James at the head, Al and Freddie on either side of him (Freddie on his right, Al on his left) I sat down next to Al, taking my rightful place, with Lily sitting across from me and Hugo sat next to Lily. The Weasley/Potters (and at one point, Lupin) used to take up the entire table, but now only six chairs were needed.

James cleared his throat and banged his fist on the table "Ok, so I assume you guys know what we're going to be discussing today". Um, no, actually Mr. James-I-am-the-leader-because-I-am-the-oldest-Potter has neglected to tell us what the meeting is about, exactly. We all stare at him blankly.

"Right, ok, well, our dear grandmother, Molly Weasley, and our mothers and fathers, have granted each of us permission to bring a friend or maybe, if you're lucky two friends, along to our wonderful, chaotic Christmas celebration this year." James clarifies.

Al and I exchange glances. It's obvious that I will pick Z and he will pick Scor, which puts me and Scor in the awkward position of possibly explaining to the entire Weasley/Potter/Lupin (Lupin is added at the end because of Teddy and his wife, my cousin Victoire and their daughter Isabel) clan that we are dating. But, I'll have to discuss with Scor and see what we're going to do about that.

James brings me back into reality "Ok, so I have to make a list of who will be attending our great Christmas bash this year! I am bringing Owen," he starts writing stuff down on a piece of parchment, so I don't think he realizes that Lily just got a lot happier. Generally, when we invite our guest(s) to our bash, the guest stays at the house, so that means that Lily will be seeing a lot of Owen over break.

"And Freddie will bring Frank," James continues, oblivious. "Wait," I interrupt, "what about Alice? I mean she and Frank are twins and they do almost everything together!"

James pauses to consider this, seeing as he likes Alice…. "Hm…Fredster?" James asks hopefully.

"Well…I'll talk to my mom" Fred said doubtfully "but I'm not sure, mate."

James turns his puppy dog eyes to Lily. "Oh no," Lily says "I'm not inviting Alice just because you're in love with her!!!" she screeches. I pause for a minute to admire the irony. I mean James invited Lily's love over (granted without knowing but Lily won't invite James' love over.

James is looking uncomfortable. Probably because he didn't realize we all know that he loves Alice, but he doesn't saying anything, so I decide to take pity on him.

"I can talk to my mum, I guess" I say and James shoots me a grateful look. "Z is over all the time we could argue that she's already family anyway and mum never minds having extra company." I offer.

"Ok, so that issue is settled." James declares. "Now, I'm assuming that Al is inviting Scor and Rosie is inviting Z, so that just leaves Lily and Hugo."

Lily is thoughtful for a moment, "Well, mum said I could invite two friends…so I guess I'll take pity on Lauren Finnegan and invite her," James is glaring at her at this point, "and then I'll invite my friend Majerle (pronounced Marley) Rice."

James huffs dramatically, "Ok, fine, what about you Hugo? Who are you going to invite?"

Hugo immediately replies "Well, since Rose and Lily can invite two friends, then I'll invite Brody Lee and Luka Vane."

I roll my eyes, "Hugo, I don't actually know if I can invite two people yet, I just said that I would ask!" I scold him.

Hugo rolls his eyes back at me, "Yeah, but we all know that mum will be totally fine with it."

Hm, that is probably true. James starts to go on about things that rather bore me, so I stop paying attention and zone out.

I was staring out the window at the Lake. It was practically frozen over because we had gotten a lot of snow this year. I remember sitting there with Scor not too long ago, just sitting and talking about random things with the occasional sneaky kiss and sigh in contentment. Suddenly, I hear the chairs rolling backwards and look up. The meeting is over!

Al and I walk back to the Gryffindor Common Room together, trying to find Z and Scor. Al lets out a sigh.

"Thinking about Z and Ben?" I ask slyly. I've been trying to convince Al to just tell Z that he's in bloody love with her already but he doesn't seem to listen to me. In fact, he just gets really annoyed when I bring the whole thing up. See, especially after the whole Z/Al/Ben incident in the hall….things have been… well, different.

I remember back to that day well…

*Flashback*

Scor and I had just finished wandering aimlessly around Hogwarts. We went to the Gryffindor Common Room to settle down in front of the fire and maybe play some Exploding Snap when we ran into Z and Al.

They went into this detailed description about how Ben was being a bastard etc. etc. and how he was yelling at Z and annoying and jealous of Al because of his and Z's friendship.

Then, Sasha enters the room and says in her snooty little voice "So, Mackenzie" (at this point I feel the need to explain that Sasha is one of the few people who refuses to accept Z's nickname and calls her by her full name) "I heard that you and 'Benny' got into a fight." She smirks and laughs a little like this is actually funny.

"Oh really," Z says bitingly, "and how on earth would you hear such a thing."

Sasha taps her nose in an attempt to look like a spy, "I have my sources." She says. I think she's aiming at mysterious but she comes off more like a really ugly girl picking her nose.

Z rolls her eyes "Oh give it up, Sasha, stop trying to get a rise out of me. This is getting ridiculous."

Then Sasha goes all weird and scrunches up her face, "'She's my girlfriend and I'll yell at her if I want to!" she says.

Z gasps, "YOU BITCH! How did you get a hold of polyjuice potion?!?"

Scor, Al and I exchange glances, thinking that surely she must be crazy and Sasha looks at her, shocked.

Z scoffs, "Oh please, I know that was not like Ben, and how else would you know those exact words?"

"Pshh…I was….hiding behind the wall!" Sasha says.

Now of all the things Sasha is, a bad liar is definitely at the top of the list. It's kind of a shame because she acts all devious and like she owns the world, but she can't lie for crap. And unfortunately for Sasha, Z can smell out a lie easily; probably because she has so much experience about lying herself.

*End Flashback*

Sasha had gotten in major trouble with both Z and Al and now Al is pissed off because Z and Ben are still together. Poor Al, he thought he was out of the woods, but then Sasha ruined everything.

It took me the longest time to figure out why Sasha would do this, it seemed like it would be counterproductive for her because then both Al and Z would be free to get together. I decided to just deem her as stupid and move on with my life.

Al scoffs and rolls his eyes at me, zapping me out of my trance.

"No, I have better things to do then think of them." He says harshly. It takes me awhile to remember my question, but I realize I had asked him if he was thinking about Z and Ben.

I give him the glare. The all-knowing cousin glare that says "I know you love her. Suck it up and tell her!"

Al rolls his eyes again, "I don't love her, Rose, plus she has a boyfriend."

I sigh in impatience "I know that Albus I hear about him all the time" (insert eye roll) "but if you decided to confess your love for her, she would totally dump him!"

By this time, we had reached the common room so I didn't get the chance to hear Al's answer. Z and Scor are sitting by the fire staring down at a piece of parchment intently; taking turns writing on said piece of parchment. I exchange glances with Al, neither of us knowing what to expect.

We walk over to them and I look over Scor's shoulder. I snort.

Z glances up, "Rose, can't you see we're doing something extremely important?!?" she gasps, "We're having a best-friend-boredom meeting! I am appalled that you would interrupt such a thing!"

I roll my eyes and let out another snort of laughter.

Al looks at the piece of parchment, "Guys, you're playing tic-tac-toe." He says.

Z sticks her tongue out at him. "Yes, but this game is majorly important! It decides who the tic-tac-toe champion is! Now, go sit over there, it bothers us to have an audience."

Scor gives me a sympathetic look but winks. Al and I retreat to the other side of the common room, still watching our friends intently. A few seconds later, Z calls out to us,

"Ok, you guys can come back over" she says with a dejected sigh.

"Who won?" Al asks.

"The cat."

"The cat?" he asks her incredulously.

"Yep, we've had twenty cat's games all in a row. Neither Scor nor I have won once!!" At this point, Scor throws in his own dejected look.

"…."

"I think I need a hug." (Cue cutesy pouty face) Z proclaims.

We both roll our eyes at her and Al sits down on the couch.

Scor offers his hand and I take it. He pulls me down onto his lap and kisses me on the cheek. Then, he gives me his own puppy dog face, "It's true you know that cat is one bloody hell of a player!" I giggle and smack his face lightly.

"So how was your family meeting?" Z asks both of us.

"Boring," Al and I reply at the same time. "I didn't even know what James was talking about most of the time!" I cry. Then I think of something, "Oh, by the way, Z, you're coming over for Christmas." She smiles happily at this; I knew she didn't want to be at her house during the divorce.

"Cool. I can't wait to see what exciting things the Weasley/Potter/Lupin tribe is going to do this year!" she smiles brightly, "Ooo and Al you're parent's anniversary is coming up!"

Al looks at her, "How do you remember this stuff? I can barely remember their birthdays and they're my own parents!"

Z shakes her head scolding, "you need to make more of an effort Albus,".

He rolls his eyes and sticks his tongue out at her.

I giggle, but look at Scor. While Al and Z get into a argument over which muggle superhero is better (Z says Spiderman, but Albus is pulling for Batman) I whisper quietly in his ear.

"We need to talk about Christmas,"

He looks at me, clearly confused, "I haven't exactly told my family that we're dating…." I mention.

He raises his eyebrows at me. Isn't he the conversationalist?

"It's going to be awkward and horrible and terrible and my family will either go crazy that I'm dating a Malfoy or start saying how they knew we would be together from the very beginning! They're going to scare you away!" I whisper quickly, but quietly into his ear.

He chuckles, "Believe me, if I was going to be scared away, I'm sure already would've run far far away by now instead of going over to your families' houses over almost every break."

"I'm serious though, you do not know what you're signing up for."

"Rose, I've been around your family long enough to know what I'm getting myself into."

I sigh, realizing that I won't be able to get through to him. Well, it was worth a shot, right? "Fine, have it your way."

He chuckles and I peck him on the lips. And we sit there, with me on his lap, watching our friends fight over Muggle Superheroes, occasionally sneaking kisses and laughing at their stupidity.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to get out...life's been crazy. I really hope you like it!! Hopefully, the next chapter will be out faster. I know the whole Sasha/Ben/Z/Al thing was weird...but I didn't really want to do a whole chapter solely on that kind of stupid sub-plot so I just stuck it in here. I know the song is lame, I'm terribly sorry, forgive me. Next chapter is Christmas! Please REVIEW you'll be my bestest friend :) Cheers,

~wwccd